by Alex Hoad at the Olympic Stadium

Jack Green said his Olympic Games debut was an ‘amazing’ experience after booking his place in Saturday night’s semi-finals of the 400m hurdles.

The 20-year-old Maidstone-born star finished second in his heat on Friday lunchtime, finishing strongly in 49.49 to earn his place in the last 24.

Decorated hurdles veteran Felix Sanchez of Dominican Rep won the heat in 49.24 as the top-three all secured automatic qualification for the semi-finals.

Green – who has been working tirelessly all year on adapting his stride pattern between hurdles to boost his times – admitted: "I’m really happy, but I think there’s a lot more there.

"I’ve just got to make sure I get the stride right, otherwise it’s not going to happen, but as we saw at Crystal Palace (last month when Green smashed his PB with a time of 48.60), even though I messed up a bit there, I got 90 per cent of it right and if I can get the other 10 per cent right then hopefully I can nick a medal."

Green admitted: "I had to find the balance between running quick and getting through. Noone remembers how quickly you run in the heats. We’ll see what happens tomorrow and the day after.

"It’s the fastest track I’ve been on by far, by far."

He also paid tribute to the 80,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium, saying: "The crowd were amazing. I’ve never had anything like it before. Hopefully it will be the same tomorrow for the semi.

"It was definitely an inspiration but at first it was a bit, 'whoa, hello,' everyone’s here, but it’s great to have everyone cheering for you."

The semi-finals are due to begin at 7pm on Saturday.